A conventional shift range control apparatus switches over a shift range by controlling a motor of a shift range switchover device in correspondence to a shift range switchover request from a driver. JP 2004-129452A (US 2006/0006827A1, US 2004/0066166A1) discloses one exemplary shift range switchover device, which uses a switched reluctance motor (SR motor) as a driving power source.
The shift range control apparatus disclosed in JP 2004-129452A controls a rotation speed of the SR motor with a phase lead. Specifically, the shift range control apparatus controls the SR motor to decelerate as it approaches a target angle by calculating a phase lead correction value based on map data indicating a relation between a rotation speed of the SR motor and an error between the target angle of the SR motor and a present angle. According to this method, the map data related to the phase lead correction value is set in correspondence to a shape of a detent plate, which is used as a detent mechanism for restricting rotation of the SR motor, to attain best matching. For this reason, it is complicated to perform a matching operation or difficult to determine the best-matched map data.